The world is currently experiencing the worst financial meltdown in living memory, but what is it like to be young and caught up in this crisis, and what lessons can be learned in the UK? To find out, reporter Stacey Dooley travels to Greece, Ireland and Japan, three countries each facing very different and very difficult economic challenges.

Stacey begins her investigation in Greece, where for years successive governments have failed to balance the nation's books. Crippled with one of the biggest national debts in the world Greece recently needed a multi-billion bailout from Europe to avoid bankruptcy, but to secure this loan the Greek government was forced to implement massive spending cuts and tax hikes. These austerity measures have dramatically affected the lives of young Greeks, leaving more than half unemployed and many more in only part-time or temporary work.

Stacey's investigation into the Greek situation comes at a crucial time. Still on the brink of going bust the government must decide whether to accept another bailout and introduce even harsher austerity measures, or let the country go bankrupt and leave the Euro.

Her journey begins with a street tour of Athens where she quickly learns how badly affected normal Greeks are as she encounters scavengers, soup kitchens and witnesses a suicide attempt. The woman is one of 700 civil servants working in social housing, but with the government department being shut not only are their jobs under threat, but so too are the lives of the million Greeks who rely on the service.

Stacey's investigation continues with a look at how new charges for receiving even basic medical help are effectively denying many poor Greeks access to their national health service. She visits the town of Perama where a charity-run clinic now treats sick locals in their hundreds and pays a home visit to a couple facing huge medical bills after the complicated birth of their newborn baby.

Against this backdrop of poverty and desperation many young Greeks are choosing to battle against the government and its austerity measures. Stacey accompanies one recently-formed group, called We Do Not Pay, as they take over an underground station in protest at recent price increases imposed on many public services. But whilst many Greeks are choosing to stay and fight others are opting to give up their dreams of city life, instead fleeing to the country. Stacey travels to the island of Chios to visit two former civil servants who have taken a massive gamble in an attempt to earn a living - risking their family's entire life savings to set up a snail farm.

Stacey's investigation reaches its climax on the day politicians decide to vote in favour of a second bailout and a further wave of harsh austerity measures. She attends a massive public demonstration gathered outside parliament that dramatically turns into a violent riot. It offers her a glimpse of how angry and desperate a people can become when pushed to breaking point by economic policies, and it gives an insight into what could happen in the UK if our debt gets any worse.

What does it really mean to be young and growing up in the middle of the worst economic crisis in living memory? To find out, Stacey Dooley travels to Greece, Ireland and Japan, three countries each facing very different and very difficult economic challenges. She's going behind the headlines to see what lessons can be learnt for us back in the UK.

In the second episode, Stacey heads to Ireland to see how they are coping several years after the country almost went bust.

When Stacey arrives in Dublin's Temple Bar the party is in full swing, but it's not long before she discovers that below the surface tensions are high when she stumbles across a group of young protesters angered by the mess they have inherited. When the police move in a dramatic scene unfolds.

On the next leg of her investigation, Stacey explores the country's infamous property boom and discovers its dangerous and devastating consequences. She meets a group of young, first-time buyers whose dream homes turned out to be anything but, and is shocked to hear that they now face homelessness and bankruptcy.

For the final leg of her journey, Stacey spends time with a girl in her twenties who is preparing to move to the other side of the world simply to find work. Since the recession hit, emigration figures have rocketed in Ireland and now almost 1,000 people a week are checking out. Is Ireland at risk of losing an entire generation? And if things don't improve at home is this a trend we could see coming to Britain soon?

Stacey heads to Japan, which has experienced two decades of an economic slump. She finds out what this means for young people by entering a hidden world to reveal a new type of homelessness, with many young people having resorted to living in internet cafes.

In a country where a third of the workforce is now trapped in part-time insecure jobs, the struggle to find secure work now consumes many. Stacey goes to an extraordinary job-hunting school that trains people how to become the perfect applicant. She learns how everything - from haircut to smile - can now mean the difference between getting a job or not. The lengths her generation has to go to find the work they want shocks her.

Even those with jobs haven't escaped the effects of this slump. Stacey meets workers now doing the work of those made redundant. She hears stories of 15-hour days and of people who have been literally worked to death. Relationships have been affected too. She learns that many men don't want to get married because they don't think they can afford to raise a family, and she joins a woman absorbed in the one of the latest youth crazes to hit Japan - marriage hunting. Stacey sees the saddest impact Japan's decline has had by visiting a forest famous for suicides.

The film ends with Stacey finding encouraging signs that some young people are starting to learn how to live in Japan today, meeting a group of young part-time workers who have come up with a novel way of thriving during the bad times.

Just watched the third and last episode in this trilogy of 'documentaries with a difference', presented by Stacey Dooley.

Why, oh why is it that people seem to take such pleasure in putting down anyone who attempts to show a bit of individuality and do something any way 'different from the norm' ?

To my mind, one of the things that contributed to making these documentaries so watchable and memorable was the fresh, natural, down-to-earth way in which they were presented by the young, up and coming Stacey Dooley. I have seen a few articles since reviewing and commending the documentaries ... but slating the presenter, as being incompetent, too emotionally involved, not hard-hitting enough, etc etc etc. Aw, come on guys ... all to easy to condemn ... Why not give her the credit (I think) she deserves for getting out there and actually doing something ... in her own way. At least she is someone who made the effort. How many of those grumpy armchair critics would make the effort to constructively put their mouths to work and do any better if the opportunity arose?

Okay ... so she made a bit of a booboo - in the Greek episode, where she looked out the window at The Parthenon, and said "There is the Acropolis" but really, that just added to the character of the programme. I thoroughly enjoyed all three documentaries. I say good luck to you, Stacey and I'll be looking out for anything further that you might be involved with.

PS: I noted from the credits of the last one (Japan) that it was produced and directed by the hunky Emeka Onono. That figures. This guy has been involved with a number of excellent "documentaries with a difference". (I have had the pleasure of meeting the gorgeous Emeka - whilst filming for another documentary a few years back ('Young, Psychic and Possessed'). I was actually interviewed during the making of that documentary, but ... that's another story for another day ....